Vacuum fuel-feed device for internal-combustion engines.



w. JAY. VACUUM FUEL FEED DEVICE FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLICATION -FILED IAN-2.1918.

Patented Feb. 18, 1919.,

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fl Jay WEBB JAY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

VACUUM FUEL-FEED DEVICE FOR INTERNAL-COMBUSTION ENGINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Retain, IQDIQ.

Application filed January 2, 1918. Serial No. 209,871.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WEBB JAY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Vacuum Fuel-Feed Devices for Internal-Combustion Engines, of Which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof. Y

The purpose of this invention is to provide an improved means for effecting socalled vacuum feed of the fuel to an automobile engine, and incidentally effecting aeration of the cooling water of the engine.

It consists in the elements and features of construction shown. and described, as indicated in the claims.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of an automobile engine equipped with this device, the same being shown in connection with portions of the chassis or frame structure of an automobile. Y

Fig. 2 is an enlarged View of the feed device shown in Fig. 1, being partly in vertical section to show the working parts, together with a diagrammatically appended detail-of a suction producing device.

Fig. 3 is a detail elevation of an oilcirculatlng pump, showing in section a suction producing device associated therewith.

In the drawings there is shown an automobile engine in its customary position on the chassis of the automobile, such engine having the customary jacket for the cooling water shown at 1, and radiator at 2, together with a pipe 3, and circulating pump, 4:, forming a part of the cooling water circulatory system. Upon the engine in customary position there is shown a vacuum fuel feed device, 5, of familiar form, comprising the.

vacuum chamber, 6, to which a pipe, 7, leads from the main low level fuel supply tank, 8, shown in customary position at the rear of the automobile chassis. The specific purpose of the present invention is, as to the vacuum fuel feed device, to provide a novel means of producing the partial vacuum by which the fuel is llfted from the low level tank to the higher feed tank. This expedient, in its usually preferred form, consists in providing in the cooling water circulatory system at some convenient point as, for example, in the pipe, 3, extending between the radiator, 2, and the jacket, 1, a Venturi throatpiece, 10, through whose throat-way the current of cooling water will have a relatively high speed, and connecting into said throat-way at a proper point .with respect to the apex thereof, a pipe, 11, which leads from the top of the vacuum chamber, 6,

of the elevated fuel feed tank, so that the It will be understood that the vacuum fuelfeed device has the usual or any convenient and suitable means for alternatin the dominance of atmospheric pressure and suction in the vacuum chamber, said vacuum chamber being provided with an atmosphere inlet shown at 9, through which atmospheric pressure is admitted to the chamber. The particular means for alternating the dominance of atmospheric pressure and suction shown consists of the familiar snap action device controlling the valves, 12 and 13, which seat respective y at the suction ort and the atmosphere inlet port, said evice being actuated by the float, 15, according to the level of liquid fuel in the vacuum chamber, in a manner well understood and requiring no further or more specific description.

Incidentally a certain advantage is derived fromthe expedient described for producing the partial vacuum, consisting in that the air drawn from the vacuum chamber by the entrainment in the Venturi throat piece serves to aerate the cooling water to a certain extent, and the air thus supplied to the cooling water escaping in the radiator carries ofl a somewhat larger amount of heat that would otherwise be radiated, thus assisting in the coolin by the circulation of the cooling water. l iasmuch as the air thus drawn into the cooling water is drawn from the vacuum chamber where it may be somewhat charged at times with fuel vapor, it may be thought advisable to provide for preventing this air, when it escapes from the haust pipe, 21, discharging therein in the direction of onward movement of the exhaust gases therethrough, so that the gasolene-vapor-charged air may pass off with exhaust gases. p

F' 3 indicates how the entrainment of air for producing partial vacuum in the chamber, 6, may be secured from the oil circulatory system, if preferred. By interposing in the oil feed llne, 16, a Venturi throatway, 10*, (perhaps bestlocated adjacent the circulating pump, 16), the create a suction in pipe, 11*, which opens in the direction of flow at a point of low pressure in the venturi, 10*.

I claim: I

- 1. In combination with an internal combustion engine, a vacuum fuel feed device comprising a low level main fuel tank, a fuel feed tank at a higher level, and a conduit from the lower to the higher tank; the higher tank comprising a vacuum chamber and a reservoir into which the chamber disflow of oil will charges fuel, a Venturi throat piece interposed in a liquid circulatory system of the engine, and an air pipe leading from the top of the vacuum chamber to said Venturi throat, whereby a partial vacuum is produced in'the vacuum chamber by the entrainment action ofthe liquid circulating current; the vacuum chamber having a pressure inlet and means for alternating in said chamber the dominance of the suction and the pressure derived through such inlet.

2. In a construction such as set out in claim 1 foregoing, the air pipe for connecting the venturi with the vacuum chamber being extended into the Venturi pipe and projecting forward therein beyond the apex or point of greatest restriction of the venturi.

3. In a construction such as set out in claim 1, the liquid circulatory system utilized being the cooling water system, a pipe leading from the upper part of the radiator, opening into the engine exhaust pipe and projecting therein in the direction of the exhaust movement pose indicated.

In testimony-whereof I have hereunto set my hand at Chicago, Illinois, this 12th day of December, 1917 WEBB JAY.

therethrough for the pur- 

